A truck has an extendable and retractable truck bed for receiving removable and replacing truck boxes of different lengths. The truck bed can be extended or retracted to fit the size of the truck box. The truck bed has movable supports that can be extended or retracted from inside or outside a cab to support the appropriate length of the truck box. The movable supports also act as guide means to guide the truck box onto or off of the truck bed. In a method of extending or retracting the truck bed, a single truck can be used to mount or remove truck boxes of different sizes.
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1. A system for transporting a variety of boxes, the system comprising:
(i) a truck having a cab and a truck bed to a rear of the cab, the truck bed comprising an extendible frame pivotally mounted on the truck bed, the extendible frame capable of being tilted rearward for loading or unloading the boxes, the frame having two hollow longitudinal side members within which movable supports are extendably and retractably fitted, each movable support having a rearmost end located wholly within its respective longitudinal side member, the movable supports both for guiding the boxes onto and off of the frame and for supporting boxes that exceed a minimum length of the frame; and,
(ii) a variety of boxes designed for different uses, each box having guide means thereon corresponding to guide means on the frame, and each box being removably mountable on the frame.
8. A system for transporting a variety of boxes, the system comprising a truck and a variety of boxes designed for different uses,
wherein the truck comprises a cab and a truck bed located to a rear of the cab, the truck bed comprising:
a raised central portion extending longitudinally;
an extendible frame pivotally supported on the raised central portion and connected to a rear of the raised central portion at a pivot point, the frame having two hollow longitudinal side members within which movable supports are extendably and retractably fitted to extend or retract longitudinally a length of the truck bed both for guiding the boxes onto and off of the frame and for supporting boxes that exceed a minimum length of the frame;
at least one hydraulic cylinder extending between the raised central portion and the frame for tilting the extendible frame rearward relative to the raised central portion for loading or unloading the boxes; and,
a winch on the truck bed having an extendable and retractable cable mounted thereon,
and wherein each box comprises an attachment means thereon to receive the cable from the winch, each box comprising a centrally located channel extending longitudinally beneath each box and straddling the side members of the frame, each box being removably mountable on the frame.
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This application is a division of U.S. Ser. No. 09/850,084 filed on May 8, 2001 and issued under U.S. Pat. No. 6,641,353 on Nov. 4. 2003.
This invention relates to a truck with an extendable truck bed and boxes of different lengths. The boxes are readily removable and replaceable successively together with a method of operation thereof.
Trucks with removable and replaceable boxes are known. However, previously known embodiments suffer from one or more disadvantages in that the truck bed cannot accommodate boxes of different lengths; or, the truck bed cannot be extended or retracted to correspond to the length of the box; or, the box is not easily removable and replaceable; or, there is a large gap between the rear of the cab and the front of the box; or, the floor of the box is too high off the ground when the box is loaded on the truck bed in an operating position, thereby causing the truck to have a high centre of gravity; or, the truck is relatively unstable when a box is mounted on the truck bed; or, the box overhangs the truck frame by a substantial amount, thereby greatly reducing the weight on the front wheels on the truck and making the truck difficult to turn; or, the floor of the truck box is not located above a winch; or, the truck with the removable box does not have the same handling capability as a truck with a box that is fixed in position; or, except for connecting or disconnecting the cable, the procedure for unloading a box cannot be controlled from inside the cab of the truck; or, previous trucks are much too expensive or complex.
In one known embodiment, the truck bed has a crane permanently mounted thereon and the crane moves the box onto or off of the truck bed. These trucks are extremely expensive to manufacture. Alternatively, a truck bed can have mounting arms thereon that engage two sides of a truck box for moving the truck box onto the bed or off of the bed. Some previous trucks have boxes that are removed off the side of the truck bed.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a truck having a number of boxes of different lengths that can be successively mounted on the truck and easily removed and replaced.
A truck has an extendable and retractable truck bed to receive truck boxes of different lengths. The truck has a cab and a truck bed located to the rear of the cab. The bed has a raised central portion extending longitudinally. The central portion supports a frame that is connected to a rear of the central portion at a pivot point. At least one hydraulic cylinder extends between the central portion and the frame. The cylinder is capable of tilting the frame rearward relative to the central portion. The truck bed has a winch with an extendable and retractable cable mounted thereon. The truck bed has a truck box removably mounted on the frame. The box having attachment means thereon to receive the cable. The frame has guide means thereon and the box has guide means thereon corresponding to the guide means on the frame. The guide means are oriented so that the box can slide from front to rear and vice versa relative to the frame. The frame has two movable supports that can be extended and retracted longitudinally, the movable supports extending or retracting a length of the truck bed. The movable supports support the truck box when the truck box exceeds a minimum length of the truck bed. The length of the truck bed substantially corresponds to the length of the truck box to be installed on the truck bed. The movable supports also guide the truck box onto or off of the truck bed.
The frame further comprises brackets corresponding to brackets on the truck box that interlock with one another when the truck box is completely mounted on the truck bed.
A method of extending or retracting a length of a truck bed of a truck to receive in succession truck boxes being first truck box and a second truck box, said truck boxes having different lengths, having a cab and a truck bed located to the rear of the cab uses a raised central portion on the truck bed. The central portion supports a frame that is connected to a rear of the central portion at a pivot point. At least one hydraulic cylinder extends between the central portion and the frame. The at least one cylinder is capable of tilting the frame rearward relative to the central portion. The truck bed has a winch with an extendable and retractable cable mounted thereon. Each truck box has attachment means thereon to receive the cable. The frame has guide means thereon and the box has guide means thereon corresponding to guide means on the frame. The frame has two movable supports that can be extended longitudinally to extend a rear of the truck bed or the movable supports can be retracted. The method comprises commencing with said truck boxes located on a supporting surface separate and apart from the truck, backing the truck towards the first truck box so that the truck is generally longitudinally aligned with the first truck box and the front of the first truck box faces the truck bed, tilting the frame upward and rearward relative to the truck bed, operating the winch to extend the cable and attaching the cable to the attachment means on the first truck box, retracting the winch to keep the cable taut, extending the movable supports and backing the truck closer to the first truck box while continuing to retract the cable to keep the cable taut, further extending the movable supports as necessary and continuing to back up the truck until a free end of the movable supports extends slightly within the guide means on the first truck box, retracting the winch further to tighten the cable and pull the first truck box closer to the truck along the movable supports, continuing to retract the cable to pull the truck box forward and upward relative to the truck until the guide means on the first truck box are engaged with the guide means on the frame, continuing to retract the cable to pull the first truck box onto the truck bed while lowering the frame until the front of the truck box is located immediately behind the cab and the frame has been lowered completely relative to the bed, adjusting a length of the movable supports so that a free end thereof extends substantially to a rear of the first truck box, subsequently reversing the method to remove the first truck box from the truck bed, repeating the method to install the second truck box on the truck bed and adjusting the movable supports so that a free end thereof extends substantially to the rear of the second truck box, subsequently reversing the method to remove the second truck box from the truck bed.
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In the drawings, there are four different boxes shown, being the open box 8, the extended open box 24, the cube box 56 and the extended cube box 58. Numerous other variations and shapes of boxes can be designed to be removably mounted onto the frame 10 and the truck bed 26. For example, the truck box could have a shape similar to that of a dump truck with higher side walls than the box 8. Since the hydraulic cylinders 12 are available to tilt the frame 10 upward or downward about the pivot point 16, the truck can then be operated in the same manner as a dump truck can be operated. As another example, the truck box could be a camper that has kitchen and sleeping facilities built into it. As another example, the truck box could have various items such as snowmobiles mounted thereon. The truck box including the snowmobiles can then be mounted or removed from the truck bed. The snowmobiles could be driven onto or off of the truck box while it is resting on the supporting surface. The truck box could be used to load or unload welding equipment in the same manner. The truck box could be designed to be a waste materials bin that could be divided into one or more subsections. Thus, it can be readily seen from the drawings and from the description, one truck can have a variety of uses simply by loading a particular type of box onto the truck. A rental agency could have several different sizes and shapes of boxes and a much lesser number of trucks so that a customer would have a choice of boxes at the time of rental. A particular customer might choose to rent two or more boxes during one rental period and use them, one at a time, on the truck body. Of course, the truck is much more expensive than the truck boxes in most cases and there is therefore substantial cost saving in being able to have a variety of truck boxes mounted successively on a truck bed.
Preferably, the truck boxes and frame are electrically wired so that the lights on the extended truck box will be automatically connected into the electrical system of the truck when the extended truck box is properly installed on the truck bed. The taillights (not shown) are installed on the frame and are suitably located when a truck bed has a standard length truck box mounted thereon. However, when the truck bed has an extended length truck box thereon, the taillights on the frame are too far underneath the truck bed to be readily seen. Therefore, extended length truck boxes have taillights mounted on a rear surface thereof. Of course, taillights are deemed to include brake lights and back up lights.
In one embodiment, the taillights are automatically connected. In another embodiment, the extended length boxes have wiring (not shown) thereon that must be manually connected to wiring (not shown) on the frame in order to connect the taillights on the extended length box to the electrical wiring of the truck.
While only standard length truck boxes of one length and extended length truck boxes of another length are shown in the drawings, the present invention has the flexibility to receive truck boxes having lengths between the regular length and the extended length. The movable supports can be extended or retracted so that when the truck is in a travel mode, a free end of the movable supports is located substantially beneath a rear surface of the truck boxes.
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